He is a contributor to yad vashems official twentyfourvolume history of the holocaust and the author of two earlier books on the subject. Like the national guard in the united states, these german battalions were organized regionally. Police battalion 101 guard duty litzmannstadt ghetto ushmm when nazi germany invaded poland during september 1939, police battalion 101 from hamburg was one of the initial battalions attached to a german army group. A remarkableand singularly chillingglimpse of human behavior. Battalion 101s direct involvement in massacres began in july 1942, as the final solution got into full swing. The reserve police battalion 101 were involved in more mass shootings in september 1942 in the village of serokomla, where some 200300 jews were shot in gravel pits. Browning delves into this aspect of the holocaust in ordinary men. German police battalion 101 holocaust historical society.
Many were able to escape this fate and ran away into the forest nearby. Christopher brownings book is about reserve police battalion 101, a unit of about 500 men. Browning argues that most of the men of rpb 101 were not fanatical nazis but, rather, ordinary middleaged, workingclass. Reserve police battalion 101 and the final solution in poland, christopher r. Reserve police battalion 101 and the final solution in poland, a study of german ordnungspolizei. The men of reserve police battalion 101 are largely middleaged men from working and middleclass backgrounds with little prior experience of military service or nazi ideology. Its an account of the reserve police battalion 101s brutality in poland in 194243 when it 500 men shot 38,000 jews and sent 45,000 by train to treblinka. Investigate perpetrator behavior with historian christopher brownings study of the men of a police unit that killed jews during world war ii. Download for offline reading, highlight, bookmark or take notes while you read ordinary men. The men of battalion 101 committed mass murder because they were caught up in brutal, polarizing war, they were told time and time again the jews were less than human, and most importantly they did not want to become isolated from the group of men they saw as comradesinarms.
The men who pulled the triggers the new york times. Ordinary men christopher browning describes how the reserve police battalion 101, like the rest of german society, was immersed in a flood of racist and antisemitic propaganda. Reserve police battalion 101 and the final solution in poland, christopher. Jul 24, 2017 how ordinary men became nazi killers prof.
Throughout this aptly titled book, this account of germanys reserve police battalion 101 supports brownings position that these predominantly workingclass men from hamburg were transformed into killers. One morning in jozefow the men who make up reserve battalion 101 are middleaged family men of working and lowermiddleclass background from the city of hamburg 1. Nov 02, 2018 in mid1941, the battalion returned to hamburg and was functionally dissolved and reformed. Einsatzgruppen, ss and reserve olice battalion 101. Reserve police battalion 101 and the final solution in poland, a study of german ordnungspolizei order police reserve unit 101, which committed massacres and roundups of jews for deportations to nazi death camps in germanoccupied poland in 1942. Reserve police battalion 101 and the final solution in poland 1992 see other formats. Reservepolizeibataillon 101 was in nazi germany a paramilitary formation of the uniformed police force known as order police ordnungspolizei, abbreviated as orpo, operating under the leadership of the ss. The collective behavior of reserve police battalion 101 has deeply disturbing implications. Shocking as it is, this booka crucial source of original research used for the bestseller hitlers willing executionersgives evidence to suggest the opposite. Reserve police battalion 101 and the final solution in poland browning, christopher r. Formed in hamburg, it was deployed in september 1939 along with the wehrmacht army in the invasion of poland.
Reserve police battalion 101 and the final solution. If the men of reserve police battalion 101 cold become killers under such circumstances, what group of men cannot. Within virtually every social collective, the peer group exerts tremendous pressures on behavior and sets the moral norms. Reserve police battalion 11 and the final solution in. Reserve police battalion 101 and the final solution in poland, is a reversal of the band of brothers theme so prevalent in american films on world war ii. Browning is professor of history at pacific lutheran university in tacoma, washington. Reserve police battalion 101 and the final solution in poland by browning, christopher r. Reserve police battalion 101 and the final solution in poland 9780060995065 by browning, christopher r. Reserve police battalion 101 was made up of the german equivalent of city policemen and county sheriffs. Professor brownings book recounts the events and the participation of the reserve police battalion 101 in the extermination of the polish jewry. Reserve police battalion 101 and the final solution in poland ebook 9780062303035 by christopher r. In his finely focused and stunningly powerful book, ordinary men. Ordinary men reserve police battalion 101 and the final.
Apr 04, 2015 initially, the police battalion 101 german. Reserve police battalion 101, in contrast to many of the killing units operating. Ordinary men is the true story of reserve police battalion 101 of the german order police, which was responsible for mass shootings as well as roundups of jewish people for deportation to nazi death camps in poland in 1942. Polizeibataillon 101 guarded polish prisoners of war behind german lines, and carried out expulsion of poles, called resettlement actions, in the. Browning and police battalion 101 department of history. Reserve police battalion 101 and the final solution in poland explores the activities of a battalion of german police officers who are, in various ways, involved in the murder of vast numbers of jews in occupied poland during world war ii. Reserve police battalion 101 and the final solution in poland paperback february 28, 2017. Browning 2017, paperback at the best online prices at ebay.
Ordinary men has been admired all over the world and is now published in the uk for the first time. Reserve police battalion 101 and the final solution in poland is a nonfiction account of the genocidal journey of a police battalion conscripted into hitlers final solution, mostly from firsthand accounts of the men themselves from their interrogations when they were put on trial in the 1960s. Everywhere society conditions people to respect and defer to authority, and indeed could scarcely function otherwise. Formed in hamburg, it was deployed in september 1939 along with the wehrmacht army in the. No single event changed them, the transformation was multicausal in nature. Browning is best known for his 1992 book ordinary men. Reserve police battalion 101 was a unit of the german order police ordnungspolizei or orpo that during the nazi occupation of poland played a central role in the implementation of the final solution against the jewish people and the repression of the polish population. Librarything is a cataloging and social networking site for booklovers. Reserve police battalion 101 and the final solution in poland ebook written by christopher r. Browning describes how the order police provided indoctrination both in basic training and as an ongoing practice within. This event came to be when in late august, battalion 101 was ordered a unofficial later to be official shooting order in parczew, one of the ghettos in poland.
Like many other such battalions, police battalion 101 was organized for the purpose of policing and pacifying territories captured by the advancing german during the early years of the war in the east. Apr 12, 1992 in his finely focused and stunningly powerful book, ordinary men. In early september 1942 the disposition of the order police in the lublin district was modified. Browning and discusses what it took to turn average police officers into a gang of. It was assigned to the district of lublin in poland. Reserve police battalion 101 and the final solution in poland by christopher r. The men of battalion 101 committed mass murder because they were caught up in brutal, polarizing war, they were told time and time. Reserve police battalion 101 and the final solution in poland.
However, this was unacceptable to the reserve police battalion 101. This 226 page book is by christopher browning, an american history professor. It takes as its basis the detailed records of one squad from the nazis extermination groups and explores in detail its composition, its actions, andthe methods by which it was trained to perform acts of genocide on an industrial scale. Find all the books, read about the author, and more. Reserve police battalion 101 facing history and ourselves. There are many societies afflicted by traditions of racism and caught in the siege mentality of war or threat of war. Brownings shocking account of how a unit of average m.